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Democratic Republic of the Congo Democratic Republic of the Congo Years after the official end of zones and more than one-third a decade-long civil war in the of the population lacks access to Democratic Republic of the basic healthcare. Congo (DRC), violence remains Since the height of the conflict, International Medical pervasive throughout eastern Corps has worked in this volatile environment, DRC, sexual abuse of women and supporting local authorities and communities to achieve resilience through training, direct services, children continues to escalate, infrastructure rehabilitation and the provision of recurrent episodes of disease equipment and supplies. outbreaks impact different health International Medical Corps has worked in the DRC since 1999, providing primary and secondary healthcare, capacity building, gender-based violence (GBV) prevention and treatment, nutrition support, Social and Behavioral Change, food security programs, Mental Health C and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) and A water and sanitation services. In the last three years, we have responded to B multiple disease outbreaks, including Ebola, Measles, Polio, and the COVID-19 D pandemic. We have also provided support to the Ministry of Health in the E distribution of oral cholera vaccine. International Medical Corps is currently serving communities in remote and hard-to-reach areas in Tanganyika, Ituri, South and North Kivu provinces in eastern DRC and Equateur province in the northwest. We have served more than 2 million people in the DRC, many of which have been affected by armed conflict. WHERE WE WORK NORTH KIVU EQUATEUR Goma Beni Bikoro Butembo Katwa Mbandaka Mabalako Karismbi Nyiragongo Kirotshe KINSHASA Masisi Birambizo Liaison office SOUTH KIVU TANGANYIKA Fizi Kalemie Manono Nundu Ankoro Mbulula Bukavu Kongolo Nyunzu Kiambi Kabalo Moba Kansimba Nyemba PRIMARY HEALTH CARE International Medical Corps currently supports 133 health centers treatment quality remains high and support the referral of cases and hospitals across twenty-six health providing essential drugs, to secondary facilities for specialized care. medical supplies, training, and referral and transfer of patients The DRC is prone to recurrence of known and newly discovered who need specialized care. Our beneficiaries include Ebola disease outbreaks—most recently Ebola, measles, and COVID-19. affected communities, internally displaced people (IDP), returnees Through our work with the Ministry of Health at the health facility and vulnerable host populations. and community levels, International Medical Corps leverages Given the considerable gaps in primary healthcare services in decades of experience with infectious diseases to improve International Medical Corps’ areas of intervention, we focus on prevention, detection, and treatment. We support the ministry providing a comprehensive and integrated primary care package, of health’s surveillance efforts by training community health including immunization campaigns, advancement of maternal volunteers and informal health care providers such as roadside and child health, basic mental health and psychosocial support medicine vendors and traditional healers to strengthen integrated (MHPSS) and improved environmental sanitation and hygiene disease surveillance and response (IDSR) conducted by health practices at targeted health facilities. We continue to support facilities and promote the adoption of the One-Health approach. capacity-building within these health centers to ensure that EBOLA OUTBREAK RESPONSE the spread of the disease, we also improved community access to clean water through the digging of boreholes. International Medical Corps has been one of the primary responders to Ebola outbreaks in the DRC. We supported the International Medical Corps is currently working to support Ministry of Public Health in its efforts to manage the country’s local authorities and affected communities to maintain Ebola tenth Ebola outbreak, which began in the province of North Kivu response capacity and reinforce community trust and early in August 2018 and—by the time it was declared over nearly two case detection through community engagement and access years later, in June 2020—grew to become the second-largest to safe and quality health care. Shortly before the outbreak in outbreak in world history. eastern DRC was declared over, a new outbreak—the country’s In responding to that outbreak, International Medical eleventh—was confirmed in Équateur Province in western Corps established two Ebola treatment centers in the DRC. As part of this response, International Medical Corps has towns of Mangina and Makeke, and set up 95 screening deployed two rapid response teams to the hotspots of the and referral units (SRUs) at health facilities in the affected outbreak in the provincial capital of Mbandaka, and the remote areas to support the safe screening, isolation and referral towns of Bikoro and Buburu. These RRTs trained local MoH of suspected and confirmed cases. The Makeke ETC was staff on IPC, and WASH and set up two ETCs in Mbandaka eventually converted into a general referral hospital with and Bikoro and one Integrated Treatment Center in Bikoro for the generous support of Latter-Day Saints Charitie and the isolation and treatment of suspect and confirmed cases. handed over to the community. At each of these facilities, Currently, International Medical Corps is responding to the we trained all relevant staff members on infection prevention latest outbreak of Ebola in the province of North Kivu where it and control (IPC) measures, including proper donning and is providing case management in the town of Katwa through an doffing of personal protective equipment, hand hygiene and Ebola Treatment Center which was set up on the foundations appropriate waste management practices. To further reduce of a rehabilitated Transit Center used in the tenth outbreak. REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE (GBV) International Medical Corps prioritizes reproductive health Since 2002, International Medical Corps has helped lead the services and family planning in the DRC. Gynecological and battle against GBV in war-ravaged eastern DRC. International obstetric care are especially important in an area where 98% of Medical Corps is currently implementing protection and GBV all obstetric complications result from either subpar medical care activities including setting up Women and Girls Safe Spaces or rape. By increasing the quality and availability of reproductive (WGSS), training paralegals and providing support to survivors of and maternal healthcare, as well as the uptake of these services, GBV including Psychological First Aid (PFA) and Post-Exposure International Medical Corps has significantly improved long-term Prophylaxis (PEP) kits to survivors of GBV. We also facilitate access health outcomes for women and children in the DRC. We also to water at health facilities and communities through boreholes, provide a wide range of health services, including education and water harvesting systems and community springs which is a counseling, for sexual assault survivors. In addition, International critical component of IPC. To reinforce hygiene and sanitation at Medical Corps has constructed a reproductive health complex in health facilities, International Medical Corps rehabilitates latrines Chambucha Hospital in North Kivu, where we have trained health and waste management zones. All these are done as part of professionals in advanced gynecological and obstetric care. International Medical Corp’s BHA funded project to provide lifesaving healthcare, nutrition, and protection services to IDPs and NUTRITION vulnerable communities in South Kivu and Tanganyika provinces. In partnership with UNICEF, the World Food Program and the U.S. Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance, International Medical Corps has provided nutrition services in several communities of North and South Kivu and Tanganyika to treat severely and “We believe there should be moderately malnourished children and adults, particularly no impunity for the sexual pregnant and lactating women. To help parents take ownership and gender-based violence of their families’ nutritional needs, we provide nutritional committed by so many.” education, seeds, tools and training to cultivate staple crops. Through our efforts and those of our local partners, thousands of children have recovered from malnutrition in North, South Kivu, – Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and Tanganyika provinces. during a visit to International Medical Corps operations at Mungunga 1 IDP camp COVID-19 PANDEMIC RESPONSE COVID-19 cases continue to rise in the DRC despite flight restrictions into and out of the country—as well as periodic isolation of cities with large caseloads, such as Kinshasa and Goma—rumors, community resistance and a lack of access to testing make undiagnosed cases a ticking time bomb. These could also hinder acceptance of the COVID-19 vaccine in the country. With funding from the Center of Disease Control and Prevention, RESEARCH International Medical Corps has been collecting and Thorough partnerships with the DRC government, documenting community perceptions to inform the donors and academic institutions, International rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine and support demand Medical Corps works to generates knowledge while generation. In June 2020, International Medical Corps supporting local communities. Examples of this began strengthening IPC measures and training health includes the participation of an International Medical workers in 82 facilities
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